The Fresh Loaf

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Damp doughy crumb.... update

Britvic55's picture
Britvic55

Damp doughy crumb.... update

Hi,

     Just an update to all those who were kind enough to respond to my help request a few weeks ago.

it turns out my damp doughy crumb in my no knead bread was simply down to too much hydration. I reduced the amout of water in the original Sullivan St recipe and it works great, maybe it's something to do with the humidity in the UK this time of year perhaps.

I'll post photo's just as soon as I work out how to, I think the file size is gonna be too big so I'll have to compress them somehow, any tips would be appreciated..

LindyD's picture
LindyD

I recall reading, Britvic, that the original NYT publication of the Sullilvan St. NK recipe called for 1 5/8 cups of water.  The correct amount per Jim Lahey is 1 1/2 cups.  Could be that your version of the recipe was wrong.  Glad you have it perfected now.

A very easy photo compression program is Image Resizer  A right click of the mouse button is all it takes to make a second copy suitable for emailing or posting.  I hope you find it helpful.

 

 

 

Britvic55's picture
Britvic55

Hmmmm,   if I use 1 1/2 cups of water with the original recipe I end up with a damp crumb.

I've experimented a lot and now use :-

640 grams flour

1/2 teaspoon yeast

1 3/4 teaspoon salt

1 2/3 cups water

I ferment for 18 hours, fold twice, rise for 2 - 3 hours, preheat oven and cast iron pot to 230 C, bake for 25 mins lid on and 35 lid off and generally get a temp of 208 F with a thermometer in the center of the bread. This volume of dough gives me a large 2 lb loaf that is close to perfect.

No Knead Bread

No Knead Bread

No more damp crumb

No more damp crumb